Newsletter #7 - Munching On My Own Dog Food... - Mighty Freelancer

“First say to yourself what you would be – and then do what you have to do” – Epictetus

Hola from Villajoyosa (It’s okay, I didn’t know where it was either)

If you’re following me on Twitter, you will have read about this latest travel mishap, and how I ended up in this tiny town.

Short version: we booked a stay in Valencia city, but kinda didn’t look at the map location…

So now we’re in a town we’ve never heard of…

For 2 months 😂

Anyhoo….turns out it’s a cute little coastal town, and even though it’s close to the all the horrors of boozy, Brit-infested Benidorm , it’s off-peak season, and very quiet.

After talking about creating extra income streams in last week’s email, it occurred to me that I’m…a bit of a hypocrite.

I’m cautious of people whose actions (and businesses) don’t match what they talk about. And I don’t want to be one of those people.

You see – I know I should be creating another income stream to help crisis-proof my finances a bit more.

But honestly, I’m a bit lazy when it comes to doing work on my own business. I’d much rather be outside, and not spending more time on my laptop.

Actual footage of me thinking about working ON my business

Like many of you, this year has been a bit dead for me in terms of getting awesome new leads. I’m thankful for my anchor client and retainers, or I would have zero work right now.

So over the weekend, I took my own advice on what I talked about last week—and started working on my first digital product.

🤦‍♀️ IT HAS TAKEN ME 7 YEARS TO DO THIS.

Even with all my experience, I (still) have massive imposter syndrome issues.

It’s hard for me to put something out into the world that might absolutely suck, and then expect people to pay for it.

Ugh. That’s already the worst feeling and I haven’t published anything yet.

Plus, it feels like everyone has already created every possible template, guide, and checklist under the sun, and how would mine be any better?

Etc. etc.

So, here’s me unravelling my thought process for getting out of my own damn head and finally creating a tiny template library:

I genuinely want to help people build sustainable, location-independent writing businesses that can give them more free time to enjoy life away from their keyboards.
I am only creating products for things I personally use/sell as services to my clients. Because I’m not a massive douchebag that will sell anything for $
All templates, questionnaires, checklists, and guides will be the exact same ones that I use with my own clients. You will literally get all my secrets.
Everything will be small (no courses, no 3452752 hours of video), super useful, and instantly actionable.
Everything is designed to make your business more efficient, and make you look like a pro to your clients.
My audience is mostly beginner/intermediate freelance writers and copywriters, so the pricing will be “low cost + high value”
For some of the more comprehensive templates and guides, I’ll be adding an optional consult call so I can personally talk people through how to use them, answer questions, and offer guidance on how to sell the thing they just bought to prospective clients. We will at no point get sidetracked talking about memes, artisan cheeses, or your favorite taco fillings on this call.

Basically, my focus is on creating products I KNOW are going to be hella useful to somebody, like:

The checklists and questionnaires I have on my desk before, during, and after every client call.
The email templates I have stashed away for every possible client scenario over the last 7 years.
The processes I use to close and manage projects like $2,500 day rates, $1,000 case studies, $20,000 website projects, and $50,000 retainer projects.

These digital products are now my personal ~~nightmare~~ goal for the rest of the year. So if I seem grumpy on Twitter for the next 10 months, THIS IS WHY. But if I can sell one thing to one person and it changes the trajectory of their freelance business, I’ll be pretty happy!

Ask Me Anything!

Q. I’ve just started writing website copy, but my clients come back with so many changes each time, or aren’t happy with what I’ve written, that it’s taking hours out of my week for revisions after each project.

I’m starting to get really disheartened and frustrated with this, even though I’ve been enjoying writing the actual copy!

–Melanie

A. When I first started out doing website copy, the 3 things I found that were super helpful to avoid so many revision requests were:

Presenting the client with a synthesis of the voice of customer research (from surveys and interviews) after you’ve completed that part of the project.
Creating a video walkthrough of yourself talking through what you’ve written, the rationale behind the copy, and (especially if you’re delivering the copy in a wireframe) why you’ve placed copy in a specific hierarchy or layout on the page. You can use a free tool like Loom for this.
Insert a clause into your contract that expressly states how many revisions rounds are included, and the timeframe that you expect these editing requests to be given in. E.g. you’ll provide two rounds of edits, and edit requests must be given within 5 working days. Also mention that any extra revision requests outside can be done with no problem, but you’ll be charging your hourly rate to do them. This is almost guaranteed to stop excessive client edit requests in their tracks!

All of these steps combined should drastically reduce client pushback and edits after each website project. They can also be applied to many other copywriting projects.

Free stuff for your business

Grab Kaleigh Moore’s free guide on how to easily turn your existing your blog posts into an ebook . (Hint: this could also be a great service to offer your clients, or a new digital product for some extra income!)
Free AI prompting course – for beginners > experts, this will teach you how to communicate more effectively with tools like ChatGPT and generate better results.
Palette.FM – colorize your photos for free with this cool drag & drop AI app. Used by over 1 million people, and Netflix!